(L-R) Actors Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford have been included in the cast for 'Star Wars: Episode VII',

(L-R) Actors Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford have been included in the cast for 'Star Wars: Episode VII',

Photo: Vince Bucci, Stringer

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Harrison Ford will return to the Star Wars franchise.

Harrison Ford will return to the Star Wars franchise.

Photo: Pascal Le Segretain, Staff

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Actors Mark Hamill, left, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford have been included in the cast of "Star Wars: Episode VII."

Actors Mark Hamill, left, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford have been included in the cast of "Star Wars: Episode VII."

Photo: Kevin Winter, Staff

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'Star Wars: Episode VII' cast unveiled

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"Star Wars: Episode VII" finally has its stars. May the Force be with them.

After months of carefully guarded secrecy and endless Internet speculation, the cast of the latest incarnation of the space epic was unveiled on the official "Star Wars" website by Lucasfilm and the Walt Disney Co.

"It is both thrilling and surreal to watch the beloved original cast and these brilliant new performers come together to bring this world to life, once again," director and co-writer Abrams said in a statement. "We start shooting in a couple of weeks, and everyone is doing their best to make the fans proud."

Kasdan has a long history with Lucasfilm, as a screenwriter on "Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back," "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and "Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi."

In addition to the three new episodes that begin with "Episode VII," Disney has plans to explore the galaxy far, far away with two standalone "Star Wars" movies, penned by Kasdan and prolific writer-producer Simon Kinberg ("Mr. & Mrs. Smith," "X-Men: The Last Stand" "X-Men: Days of Future Past").

"I think what worked so well in all of the 'Star Wars' movies is the characters," Kinberg said in an interview.

"I think the reason that they're different than other science fiction or other genre movies is because George (Lucas) created a universe of people that you wanted to go back and see over and over again, and that's why it's spanned and spawned so many different mediums, so many different generations, every different language."